Gardening
by Inudaughter Returns
Summary: Helga and Arnold get locked in Arnold's greenhouse for a second time. Oops. But fear not, there is a happy ending this time. Can love cultivate kindness?
1. Chapter 1

"Miriam!" Helga shouted across the house. Have you seen my shoes?" The young girl's plaintiff was answered by her mother's sitting up. Miriam had been dozing in big Bob's armchair for a change in scenery. She adjusted the glasses that were slightly bent from being worn while asleep all the time so that they fit her face.

"Huh? Oh I'm sure they're around somewhere dear!" The woman said wobbling to her feet. She looked around herself for a moment. But disoriented, the woman slumped back onto the chair in defeat.

"Hm, I don't know honey! Take a few dollars from my wallet and buy yourself a new pair. A woman can never have too many shoes! Oh and maybe you could even splurge for some penny loafers! You know the leather shoes with a real penny in them? They were always your favorite when you were a little girl!"

"Right," Helga muttered with doubt. She'd have to find her shoes on her own. But maybe taking a little extra cash when offered wasn't a bad thing.

Helga wandered into the dining area. She spotted her mother's purse on the table and rummaged through it to get two from a number of twenty dollar bills. She had enough self restraint to leave the rest, tucking them back into the bill fold. Miriam came in the room as she did so. Miriam rubbed her bleary eyes.

"Oh look Helga!" the woman pointed. "Over there behind the potted plant!"

Helga looked. Yes, sticking out of the underside of a small, freestanding cabinet were the tips of her shoes. "Aw isn't that lucky!" her mom purred. "Oh by the way dear. Please water that potted plant. It's always dying," the woman said with a touch of disdain.

"Hm," Helga said. She touched touched the fronds of a palm. "It doesn't look so good. Maybe Arnold would know what's wrong with it. He's good with this sort of thing."

"Good idea!" said her mother. She pulled out a dining room chair to sit on. "Why don't you pay your little friend a visit?" Miriam settled in for a nap. Helga meanwhile picked up the houseplant. Wide-eyed and wondering at the recent turn of things, she jiggled the front door open using one hand and her elbow. She and the houseplant slid through the door.

At the boarding house on Vine Street, Arnold walked down the stairs of his home. He blinked at the sight of Ernie Potts and Mr Hyunh wearing beach towels with turtles on them. "Hey kid!" Ernie said. "The sauna's up and running. It's your turn to go in if you want to. " The man gestured with his thumb behind him.

"Yes! It's your turn! After grandpa!" the other said. Arnold blinked.

"Well I really hadn't planned on it today but I guess I would like a turn," the boy mumbled. He walked through the kitchen, out the back door, then round to the rear of the house. A little stack of towels with turtles on them were there. Arnold selected one of the towels from the stack then knocked on the sauna door.

"Grandpa? " the boy called into the sauna's interior. What he didn't anticipate was his grandma to shoot out of it wearing a bikini and a football helmet with valkyrie wings sporting out either side.

"Dagnabbit how many times do I have to tell you to read signs? This sauna is not coed," Phil grumbled from within the room.

"Aw Phil, you're so shy!" Arnold's grandma grinned. "Besides you know a little thing like that never stopped me."

"Oh, raspberries," Arnold's grandpa cussed.

Arnold's grandma went away. His grandpa Phil then noticed the boy through the door. "Oh, how are you doing, Shortman?" The elderly man asked. "Do you wanna take over here? I'm done, " his grandpa said just before ambling off.

"Sure," Arnold said before his grandpa left. He stood in the backyard in his little blue boxer shorts, admiring the turtles on the towel.

But Helga had arrived at the boarding house. The sight before her had Helga transfixed. The potted palm tree tumbled free of her hands to smash on the ground. She didn't notice the rubble on her feet. In her head there was a screeching like the needle on a vinyl record being ripped suddenly off its player. All she could do was watch in slow motion as her radiant, bright-skinned, emerald-eyed love-god shook out his towel. Helga lowered her eyes to follow the sculpted muscles of his firm chest. A dreamy sigh escaped Helga's lips. Grinning as she closed her eyes, Helga almost fainted backwards. But, no, this time she rocked back on her toes in an instant and gave herself a slap. Then she dodged behind some barrels. Arnold whirled his head around but saw nothing.

"Oh be still, my thrice beating heart!" Helga whispered from behind her barrel (which was filled with painted wood chips and other trash). "What would make my heart becalm is also what would make it race! To thread my fingers in his wispy locks of sunbright hair! Would it liberate me, or ere would I die?!" Helga lay both hands on her chest as if she was having coronary heart failure. Then, she reopened her shut eyes. Helga had realized something. The chance to spy on Arnold would not last long. She recovered enough to peer round the barrel just as Arnold swaggered into the sauna. Crouched on her knees behind the barrel and open jawed, Helga watched the boy go his way.

"OH!" Helga declared with a touch of way too much drama. Still kneeling, she shifted her weight onto one knee to curl one of her hands into an anguished fist. "Oh! If only I could but kiss that uniform oblong perfection which is your brow and match it to my own unworthy one, I would hold you for a while, yea hour's time until the tenderness of my love would seep like the sauna heat to surround you in its embracing temperature's radiance. Heh, my beloved! My divine and true! How I admire you in your ravishing entirety!" Still hidden behind the barrel, Helga pulled her locket from her shirt front to snuggle it with her nose. But then she tucked it away again to observe the door to the sauna.

A towel over his shoulder, Arnold emerged from the sauna at last. He blinked. If he wasn't imagining things, then the barrel in his yard quavered side to side. When it jiggled again Arnold picked up the tiniest of pebbles and threw it at the barrel. The pebble bounced off the rim and out of view.

"Yow!" Helga exclaimed. Rubbing her head, she stood.

"Oh," Arnold uttered calmly. "It's you."

"Yeah it's me," Helga groused. She rubbed the top of her head. Then she let her hands fall free to her sides. "What's shaking, dazzling? "

"Helga. What are you doing here? " Arnold asked plainly. Helga twitched her brows then pointed at her now near demolished houseplant.

"I came here in need of a little bit of your gardening advice, Arnoldo. Do you have any tricks to fix this? Or at least some glue?" Arnold stooped over the battered plant.

"Well, if you really want my advice, Helga, I think we should at least start with a new pot. Come this way, I have some spare containers in my greenhouse." But Helga hadn't been listening properly. Arnold glanced down at his bare chest.

"Oh yeah, " said Arnold. He had noticed that Helga was practically drooling on herself over his chest. "I'd better put on a shirt." Flashing her a smile, Arnold found himself a shirt from the clothes drying line. He tugged it over his head so that his torso disappeared from its tantalizing display. With a small smirk of masculine pride, Arnold opened his greenhouse door and held it open like a professional doorman. "After you!" The boy gestured with courtesy. Her face a study of shifting emotions- now meekness and tenderness- Helga slipped inside the greenhouse. She craned her head around.

"Wow, a lot of old memories in here," the girl said. "Remember that time I spent the night over here for your geeky biodome project?" Arnold rubbed his temple at the afflicting memory.

"Yeah, I really don't care to dwell on that experience. No offense Helga but when you're trapped someplace. .. well you get a little tense. Like really, really tense. That day was not the best experience of my life. "

"Yeah? Well at least you got some sleep that night, paste for brains! Oh, sorry. Old habits die hard. Didn't mean to snap," Helga amended. Then, creeping forward she touched the back of the boy's hand with two fingers. "I'm sorry, Arnold! Really I am!" A good deal of time had passed. She and Arnold were no longer foes or acquaintances. They were friends who felt the temptation to be romantic from time to time. It was an instinct they both still resisted out of pride although there was a kind of tenderness between them which Arnold had also seen during the gruesome disaster of biosphere. When the greenhouse had flooded, Helga had injured her arm in a bid to protect him from the flood waters by pulling him up onto their impromptu raft. When the waters had receded into the grass her smile toward Arnold had been tender for a moment. It was one good memory in amid a mess of really bad ones.

"Well, we rebuilt the greenhouse! See!" said Arnold. He gestured to the glass all around them. Joy and sorrow flickered across his face. But then Arnold recalled the houseplant plant Helga had dragged here. Arnold set the palm down on his potting bench. He scrutinized the exposed roots.

"Hm," Arnold mused over it. "Please hand me that pot on the bottom shelf, Helga. Now that bag of dirt by your foot! Now I add a little water," said the boy using a little, old-fashioned metal watering can for a moment. "There! I think that should help. I'll just trim a few of the dead leaves off." He picked up pair of scissors for a few short snips.

"It lives!" Helga declared as if she and Arnold were in a Frankenstein movie. "Thanks, Arnoldo. It doesn't look too shabby. "

"Where do you keep this plant Helga? " Arnold asked. He kept up his examination of its leaves.

"In the dining room," was Helga's answer.

"Well, if it's really dark where this plant is kept, it might be better for you to keep another plant. This one needs a lot of sun. Here, I have some others I could trade you that might work better for you."

"As in not die? That's nice of you and all but I'd better ask about that. The plant is Miriam's. If I trade, she might flip out. On other hand, she might not even notice. It's hard to guess."

"Okay, "Arnold replied. Perhaps he wondered slightly why Helga had come all the way with her mother's plant since Helga was angry with her mother most of the time. But he kept silent.

Helga and Arnold walked to the greenhouse door. The two expected to get out. But when Arnold pulled at the door it refused to open. "Uh oh," said Arnold.

"Whaddaya mean uh oh? " Helga gulped.

"Um, when Grandpa and Ernie rebuilt the greenhouse they build it the same as last time. With the lock on the other side of the door. Don't ask me why they do these things because I don't know. Maybe it makes sense to them."

"Why, because they think the plants are gonna run away? Sheesh! " Helga huffed. She pressed her nose to the glass.

"I don't know! " said a dismayed Arnold. "But it happened to me once before. All we gotta do is wait. Someone will come along and find us."

"Right, Arnold. Like we'll be lucky enough for that to happen." But Helga's eyes bulged. Mr. Kokoschka was making his way across the yard straight for them. Helga and Arnold both waved their arms and shouted.

"Let us out, let us out!" They cried. The man stopped right beside the greenhouse.

"Mr. Kokoschka, we really need you to open the greenhouse door for us. It locked behind us," Arnold said trying to be calm. But it was a little tough for Mr. Kokoschka to hear them through the glass. Maybe he was a little deaf. Maybe he wasn't paying attention. But for whatever reason, the man didn't notice their distress.

"Oh hi, silly kids!" He grinned. "Grandpa sent me out here to check on you in case you went all pruny in the sauna. Well, it's turned off now! You and your friend have fun!"

"Mr. Kokoschka let us out!" Arnold cried. He pounded the glass with his fist.

"Help! Hey, help!" Helga wailed.

"Eh, what's the matter kids?" The man asked. "Do you want to hear a joke? Okay but just one! What did the ghost chicken say after crossing the road? Why are you eating my sandwich? Eh, pretty funny, eh! Well see ya later!" With that their potential rescuer was gone.

"Drat, drat, double-darn it drat!" Helga scowled though the glass as Mr. Kokoschka vanished from sight. "What do we do now, football-head?"

"Ugh. This is not good, " Arnold complained, in distress himself. He too, pressed his nose to the glass. "We may be in here for hours! And this time I don't have any food. Um, I know you get kind of grumpy when you get tired and hungry, Helga. Please try to go easy on me okay?" But Helga didn't answer. She was too busy examining Arnold's books piled on the table.

"Hey what were you reading, Arnoldo? " Helga said thumbing through a page. "Looks like spiders."

"Yeah," said Arnold. He picked up one of the books to point out a page. "See? The black widow's really scary. In addition to being venomous the female will overpower the smaller male to eat him if she's really hungry." Looking down at the book then Helga, Arnold shirked. He prepared himself to run... just in case. But before the boy could bolt Helga caught the boy by the scruff of his collar.

"Oh come on!" Helga griped before loosening her grip on Arnold's collar. "Get real! Do you really think I'd eat you? "

"The thought never crossed my mind," Arnold lied with a pearly smile.

"Sheesh, " Helga huffed. "Why would I eat you? Although I'm getting a little hungry. It's too bad we don't have some of those pizzas like your family was annoyingly gorging themselves on last time. Right in front of me! Wait!" said Helga. She grasped Arnold again in the impulse of a moment. "That might be the answer! Pizza!" She whipped out her cellphone.

"Why didn't you have that last time?" Arnold pondered.

"Because I didn't want my parents bugging me, okay?" Helga lashed back. She stuck the phone up to her face. "Hello? I'd like to order five pizzas! Helga Pataki! The only catch is ya gotta deliver it to the greenhouse in the back of the house at 28 Vine Street. Ya got that?! In the greenhouse!" Helga listened then hung up the phone.

"Why don't you call your parents? Or one the boarders?" Arnold asked. Helga shrugged. Then she dialed the phone number to Arnold's house. It rang and rang for a long time. Everyone inside was watching a baseball game. "Hello? Arnold's Grandpa?" she asked. But she had gotten Mr. Hyunh on the phone. "Hi, I'm calling because…" Helga began to say. But the Vietnamese man cut her off.

"Oh! I know you! You are calling from the telephone school? Yes, our telephone is working. Goodbye!" He hung up.

"Um, you try Arnold!" Helga said. She handed the phone to Arnold. But Mr. Hyunh had gone back to watching the game.

"Dang," Helga said glumly. "Sorry! I guess we'll wait for the pizza!" TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Note: Most of this story is fake but Helga's nostalgic story about shoes is inspired by real life. As they say, truth is stranger than fiction. Enjoy!**

Helga and Arnold had no choice but to wait for the pizza delivery guy to come. Maybe, just maybe, he would rescue them from the greenhouse they were trapped in. They sat. They slouched. Then Helga sprawled out since it seemed like an infinity to wait. She examined the tips of her sneakers in fine detail. A red ant crawled on the toe of her shoe before it hopped off to disappear from view. After it had left, Helga sat up on one side to talk to Arnold.

"Ugh! Fast and fresh pizza delivery my butt! This must be the longest wait for pizza I've ever had in my life! What gives?!"

"Maybe it just feels like a really long time because we're impatient," Arnold explained sagely.

"Um-hum," said Helga. She cradled her arms behind her head and flopped to look up at the sky out of the roof of the greenhouse. There were larger spaces out there beyond their prison.

"Um, What are you thinking about?" Arnold asked after a few more silent minutes. Helga propped herself up on one elbow.

"What?" she blurted in disbelief. "You want to know what I'M thinking about?"

"Well," said Arnold. "Yeah. If it's something you'd like to share." Helga flopped back down to the ground. At least the floor of the greenhouse wasn't muddy.

"Well, actually it's really silly. Don't laugh, okay? Because it's really all nonsense."

"So what is it?" Arnold said more interested now to know what Helga meant by nonsense.

"Well, I was thinking about sliced bread. They say they invented it in America when its commercial food manufacturing and packaging took off. But before that, everyone ate bread for centuries. So when people cut a slice off to eat, did they not call it a slice of bread? What did they call it instead?"

"Um, I really don't know what they called them," said Arnold. "Maybe slices, but they just started calling whole loaves sliced bread? I don't really know. It's a shot in the dark but that's my guess."

"Maybe," Helga said still slouched back. "I wouldn't mind a sandwich now. Where is that pizza?"

"I dunno," Arnold answered simply.

"And what are you thinking about?"

"Armadillos. Why I keep seeing them on T-shirts."

"Hmm," Helga muttered. But she had no answer for that.

"Pizza delivery!" a pimply teenager interrupted their contemplations. "Hello? I have five pizzas for forty-five fifty?" the teenager asked. Helga gestured through the greenhouse door. "In here!" The boy opened the door to the greenhouse wide.

"Yes!" Helga celebrated as a towering stack of pizza boxes were shoved into her arms. "Here, hold this Arnoldo while I pay the guy."

"Sure!" said Arnold while Helga dug into her clothes for money. "Now whatever you do!" Helga warned the guy as she handed him some bills, "don't close the door!"

"Close the door? Okay!" the pizza delivery boy said. With a helpful smile, he slammed the greenhouse door shut. Helga and Arnold heard the latch close, trapping the two again.

"Noooo!" Arnold and Helga cried out. "Come back here! We need you to reopen the door!" But the pizza man had gone away.

"Ugh, I'm such an idiot!" Helga lamented as she covered her face in shame. "I should have paid the man outside the door!"

"A lesson learned?" Arnold stated mildly. "At least we have pizza!"

"Yeah, there's that!" Helga said. She popped open the top pizza box to take out a slice.

Two entire pizzas later, Arnold and Helga were conspicuously rounder round the middle. They had gorged themselves on pizza until they were nearly sick. Helga picked her teeth with a little bit of toothpick.

"We should try the phone again," Arnold decided. But as the boy gathered himself to his feet, he spotted someone in his yard. Two people, actually. It was Gerald and Phoebe. Gerald wore his usual sports jersey but he was wearing a tie. Phoebe was wearing a dress only a little bit fancier than her usual school clothes. Phoebe also carried a purse.

"Gerald, I'm so glad to see you!" Arnold gaped at his best friend. "Can you let us out? Helga and I got stuck!"

"Stuck?!" Gerald quoted. He placed his hands at his hips to interrogate his friend. "Whaddya mean ya got stuck?"

But Helga answered Gerald instead of Arnold. "The greenhouse door is latched on the other side, dim-watt! Can you unlock it? What are you doing here anyway?"

"Ah, me and Phoebe were on our way to a date! But we saw you and wanted to check if you were alright!" Gerald explained calmly. But he still hadn't unlatched the greenhouse door. Phoebe approached Helga.

"Wow, you're stuck in there with Arnold?" Phoebe gasped. "How lucky for you!" A startled Helga blinked at her friend's odd comment.

"Gerald, this isn't funny!" Arnold admonished. With a glare that might even turn into a snarl, the boy leant against the greenhouse glass as if the sheet would give beneath his weight to free him. But the broad smile flickered back onto Gerald's face. He and Phoebe shared an unspoken nod and agreement between them.

"Nah!" Gerald said with slightly mischievous glee. "I think we'll leave you in for a bit! Y'all have some things to work out. We'll come back for you after our date!"

"What?! Hey pointy-between-the-ears! Come back here! Don't you dare abandon us! You and your locker are gonna get it!" Helga raged as Gerald and Phoebe snuck away. Arnold gaped.

"I can't believe Gerald just left us in here!" Arnold mourned in disbelief. "Phoebe, too! And she's such a sweet girl!"

"Ah, I'm not angry at Phoebe at all!" said Helga. "She has a good point. But those two nose-in-it-alls are annoying. I'll tell you what, Arnold. When this is all said and done and we're out of here, I'll put a caterpillar in Gerald's juice for you or something."

"Nah, don't do that!" Arnold admonished Helga. "That's juvenile and petty!" But his eyes softened their resolve as he reflected. "Well, maybe just this once…"

"Teehee!" Helga snickered as she imagined playing a trick on Gerald. "But in all seriousness, what are we going to do? Wait until they come back?"

"I don't see how we have a choice!" Arnold said with a soft sigh and shrug of acceptance. But as Arnold and Helga peered through the greenhouse glass, they spotted yet another one of their mutual friends walking down the street through the gap in the board fence of Arnold's yard. It was Harold. Both kids waved their arms at him.

"Huh?!" Harold stared. He came closer to stand at the other side of the structure. "What are you two doing? Why are you waving at me like that?"

"Harold, let us out, please!" Helga pleaded. The burly boy blinked.

"She means open the door, Harold," Arnold explained more simply. The boy reached up beneath his ballcap to scratch his head.

"Oh! You want me to play with you guys? Sorry, but I can't. My favorite show comes on soon!" the boy said examining a large watch strapped to his wrist. "I really like Wrestlemania. Do you like Wrestlemania, Arnold? Helga does!"

"Ugh, can we talk about sports AFTER you open this door?" Arnold said pointing. "I'll give you a Mister Nutty Bar!" Arnold pointed some more.

"A Mister Nutty Bar! Alright!" the boy said, suddenly enthused. He pulled and pushed at the door as if to open it. Both Arnold and Helga grit their teeth in anticipation. But then, a timer went off on Harold's watch. The straining boy stopped what he was doing immediately.

"Ah, rats! I'll come back to play with you some other time you guys! See you around!" Harold said, leaving. Helga slapped her forehead.

"Great!" she huffed. "There goes another chance to spring out of this joint."

"Couldn't be helped," Arnold said. "Seriously, I believe Harold could achieve opening the door if he kept at it, but it MIGHT have taken him a little while."

"Yup," Helga agreed about their less than keen friend.

"Try the phone again?"

"Sure!" Helga handed the phone to Arnold. He listened to it and even spoke to someone. But the he hung up.

"Well, Grandma might have understood the message. But she might not have. She seems to be under the impression that I'm calling from Botswana."

"Well, that's it, Arnoldo! We're doomed! We're stuck here until Gerald and Phoebe have mercy on us! Maybe I shouldn't have shot so many rubber bands at him."

"You really shouldn't do that to anyone, Helga," said Arnold. "Let's look around for something better than gravel to sit on."

"I hear ya loud and clear!" said Helga. With a smile, she found an empty, enormous clay flowerpot and turned it upside down. She and Arnold then made a vast wonderland castle made of tarp and many other bulky things collected from around the greenhouse. For decorations, Helga filled glass jars with flowers. She wove large leaves together to make a small flag. Then the two settled down in their little fort. They had found some nice chair cushions to sit on. In a fake refrigerator, they had hoarded their last three pizzas. But on one of the empty pizza boxes, they played tic-tac-toe.

"A tie. Again!" said Helga. "This game is way too simple!"

"Yeah," Arnold complained. He stood up and pressed his nose to the glass. "It'll be suppertime soon! Grandpa is sure to come look for me myself, then!"

"Yeah? He really does care for you a lot, huh?" asked Helga.

"Yeah," Arnold replied. "He does. Sometimes it's a little weird that I have a grandma and grandpa raising me. But sometimes it's good, too."

"At least they give you your space!" Helga complained. "No do this, do that!"

"Oh, I have a lot of chores, believe me!" said Arnold. "Maybe even more than you. But at least that earns me their respect."

"Hm," Helga muttered. She turned the thought over in her head. "Well, Phoebe and Gerald are gonna hear it when they finally come back!"

"Yeah."

"But at least we are getting along a lot better than last time!" Arnold said trying to look on the bright side. Helga stared at him.

"Yeah, I guess we sorta of are. But it's been a long time since we first started to really talk to one another. I mean, I sorta of kind of knew who you are and you knew me from our sports games. But we didn't talk after school. We didn't even talk during classes. I just sort of spied on you."

"You still spy on me," said Arnold with a small smile. "Your seat's right in back of mine."

"Hello! That's a seating arrangement! It's different from sneaking! Besides, you take the liberty of rummaging through my school desk every time you forget your pencil. I should charge you a quarter for every pencil you lift."

"Sorry," said Arnold looking apologetic. "I'll pay you back when I get my allowance."

"No need, Arnold. I was just being hypothetical. I don't mind." The two children stared outside the glass.

"Yup. Gerald and Phoebe are probably having a great date. Chatting together and eating and sitting close. Lucky them."

"Um, you mean like we kind of are doing now?" said Arnold. Something of the crush between had kindled. It hovered in the air between them. Helga rubbed her arm and averted her gaze.

"Uh, yeah," the girl mumbled. "If you look at it that way this could be like a kind of date. An involuntary one so I'm not sure it counts. But we could make it a voluntary one. After all the setting's not all bad! You did call this place 'our own little Walden once'. I guess I could interpret it as romantic."

"Helga?" Arnold said pressing his palm against hers. Shivering, Helga interlaced her fingers with his so that they were holding hands. "You're really beautiful with your hair down."

"Is that a compliment, football-for-brains?" Helga stuttered out. "Really! After all this time you speak?"

"Helga! The language! No insults?" the boy glared. But he looked down at their hands. Instead of letting her go. He tightened his grip so that Helga flinched at the firmness of his squeeze. Smiling, he shook their joined hands up and down.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'll be good!" Helga apologized. Sweeping a loose lock of her bangs back from her face, the girl stared at Arnold's face. The two smiled at one another. They might have gotten lost in a romantic moment. But then Helga and Arnold heard the sound of a latch scraping. It was Arnold's Grandpa opening the greenhouse door.

"Okay, okay! Break it up kids! Shoo, shoo!" the old man said. Helga walked straight out the greenhouse door to wordlessly exit to the street. Arnold's grandpa whirled on his grandson. But he smiled.

"It's okay, Shortman! I was young, too! Ah, youth! It's so useful for getting to eat all the ice cream you could wish! Nowadays I don't have the half the appetite. What a pity. My anchovy-flavored ice cream expires before I finish the carton. Now scamper off to dinner, Shortman. Your gram is waitin'." Arnold and Grandpa Phil exited the greenhouse while Abner the pig cantered around them. Phil pulled the door to the greenhouse closed. Abner got trapped in the greenhouse.

"Weee! Mwehee!" Abner complained of being forgotten as Arnold and Grandpa Phil walked toward the boarding house.

But the day was far from ended. Helga dropped by a tiny, rarely-known shoe shop on Vine Street. She rooted around their shelves for a pair of penny loafers her size. She set the leather shoes on the counter, rung out, then carried her purchase out of the shop in a little paper bag. Then, wandering, she sat down on a park bench at the park. As Helga rested a moment the sight of Gerald and Phoebe met her eyes.

"Helga? You and Arnold got out?" Gerald asked with mild surprise. Phoebe hung off his arm, still wearing her date clothes. "If you beat me up, can I ask you a favor? Can you do it later? I don't wanna mess my suit!"

"Your suit is a tie, Geraldo! Besides, I have plans to get back at you later! How did your date go, Phoebe?" Helga said, concentrating her attention on her friend. Phoebe and Gerald took Helga's question as proof that it was safe for them to sit down on the other side of the park bench. Gerald curled his hand around Phoebe's back as she hung on his shoulder.

"Just great, Helga! How did things go with you and Arnold?"

"Meh. We ate pizza till it came out our ears. Then Arnold's Grandpa sprung us. I got some shoes!" She pulled the loafers from the paper bag to show them to her best friend.

"They're really great, Helga!" her best friend smiled.

"I know! Aren't they!" Helga beamed. Helga set the shoes down on her lap to admire them. But then, without warning, a drooly toddler wandered out of the sandbox to snatch them. She began gumming the shoes. Then, in another instant, the drooly toddler tucked the shoes under her tiny body and fell promptly asleep.

"Hey!" Helga complained in a state of shock. "I just got mugged by a two year old!"

"Charity, don't fall asleep here!" said an older brother trying to shake the kid awake. Another older sibling shook the baby, too. But it refused to let go of the shoes. It chewed them like a puppy.

"Um, Helga what are you going to do?" Phoebe asked tensely. She expected Helga to blow up with rage. But Helga stared down at the sight before her, lost deep in thought.

"You know, this reminds me of something. I just recalled how I got my first, beloved pair of penny loafers. I was in a store, right? Miriam was shopping. Only I was too young to even know what a five was. But there were all these pairs of shoes lined up in a row! I really got a fascination with them because they had a penny in them. I stared and stared at them forever but I couldn't buy them since I had no money. But then the lady who owned the shop came over to me and asked what I was looking at. I told her the shoes. She told me they were called Penny's loafers. I asked her if that meant her name was Penny since they were her shoes. She laughed and laughed at me then. Then I told the lady I wanted the shoes but I didn't have any money. I stared at the shoes some more and she came back with a pair of little-worn shoes. She gave them to me and said I could have them just like that- I didn't have to pay for them or nothing. And I asked her, 'Don't have to pay for them? Because this is a shop and that's what shops do. They sell things.' And she said to me, "these shoes used to belong to me when I was young. You can have them for free.' And I said, 'Why? Why would you give things away for free?" It didn't make sense to me. So she thought and then said to me something really weird. She said, 'How about this? The price of these shoes is that one day, you do one good deed for someone else when you have the chance to.' It's odd, really. It's strange but that's why they were always my favorite pair of shoes. They were one of the few times in my life I saw proof that someone could do something for another person just to be..well nice. It felt good to me. And well, now I figure it's my turn to pay that bill I owe. Let's not wake the little brat… I mean cherubim. It's not like I really need new shoes anyway. Let's get out of here!" Helga said. Straightening her back so that she stood as tall as possible, Helga strode away from the park. Phoebe and Gerald staggered after her. As they caught up to Helga at the exit to the park, they saw Helga slap the side of her head in frustration.

"Ah! I forgot the houseplant! Argh, maybe I'll go back for it another day! It's not that important! Miriam's probably forgotten all about it."

"Hm?" Phoebe pondered. "Helga, I just wanted to tell you I think it's really great what you just did! It was.. well, really nice."

"Oh, Phoebe, are you gonna jump aboard the morality train, too? Sheesh! Yes, yes, I'm a do-gooder-for the moment. In the meantime, I've lost a pair of shoes!"

"Well, the ancient Chinese adage does say that the scent of roses clings to those who give them," Phoebe suggested in all seriousness. "Maybe you gained something today, Helga, that is more valuable than a pair of shoes?"

"Like what?" Helga snuffed.

"Like maybe Arnold is rubbing off on you a tiny bit," Phoebe explained more directly.

"What?! That football-head doesn't have anything to do with this!" Helga raged defensively. But Phoebe was accustomed to Helga's rants. She did not blink.

"Maybe. Or maybe you've been doing a little bit of gardening of the soul, Helga," Phoebe bravely commented.

"Oooh, that's deep!" Gerald said. He admired Phoebe's remark with a smile.

"Bah! This mushiness is making me uncomfortable! I'm outta here! See ya tomorrow at school, Phoebes!" With a wave, Helga increased her walking speed to leave the shorter Phoebe in the dust.

"Hm. An interesting day if I do say so myself," remarked Gerald as Helga left them. "Helga being generous? It's a rare, rare thing!"

"Helga can be nice sometimes!" her best friend defended with fierce loyalty.

"Well, actually, I feel really good about all this," said Gerald. "I mean, after seeing that I feel some hope for Arnold! Now all he's gotta do is water her and eventually, Helga will become halfway tolerable!"

"Gerald!" Phoebe admonished Gerald. She playfully punished her amore by whapping him with the strength of a butterfly. Ignorant of this, Helga continued on her way down the Vine Street to take the shortcut to her house. The end.


End file.
